Anti-war demonstrators hurling stones clashed with police during a march by tens of thousands of people to protest US President George W Bush's visit yesterday in Rome, where streets were sealed off and massively guarded by anti-riot officers. Protesters took to the streets to demonstrate through central Rome, many with signs demanding Italy withdraw its troops from Iraq. Some scuffled with police, others demonstrated around the capital, threw firecrackers and set a trash can on fire. But the US leader, in a letter sent to newspaper Ouest France and due to be published today, said "countries that shared the same values," like France and the US, were "capable of getting together to accomplish what pessimists consider impossible." Bush was marking the Allied liberation of Rome from its Nazi occupiers exactly 60 years ago. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Masked demonstrators hurl objects during clashes with Italian Police at Circo Massimo grounds at a protest against the visit by Bush in Rome, Friday June 4, 2004. (AP)